How-to

Step up on Rune.

Open Rune Terminal. Give each machine a short name. Call the one you want with one command. The desk, the Pi in the closet, the shop firewall, the cabin. Same steps at home and from the road.

The steps · Why you would · Name a box · Once you are in

Rune Terminal

Do this on the phone

You are typing at rune$. These are the commands the app already ships. One line at a time.

Twelve steps Open Rune · name it · vw ssh · files · doctor

Open Rune Open Void Walker. Tap Rune. The prompt is rune$. That is Rune Terminal. The heavy work stays on machines you already own.
Same Wi-Fi, one try On the network with that machine: ssh YOURUSER@10.0.0.1. A firewall you administer uses the admin user that box already has. A normal SSH port is 22. If yours is different, you will put that number in the name block below.
Give it a short name You should not have to remember the address. Edit ~/.ssh/config and add one block per box. Templates in that file are already commented. A shop and a cabin look like this:
```
Host shop
  HostName 10.0.0.1
  User admin
  Port 22

Host cabin
  HostName cabin-fw
  User admin
```
On your own LAN, HostName is that network’s address. On the road, HostName is the mesh name. The short name stays shop.
See the names, then call one vw hosts lists them. vw ssh shop opens the shop. vw ssh cabin opens the cabin. vw ssh hub is the short name for your own PC once that mesh entry is yours.
Add the next one the same way Another Host block. Then vw ssh and that name. Desk, Pi, NAS, office firewall, spare router. If it accepts your login, it can have a name.
A key, when the box allows one bash ~/rune-ssh-setup.sh makes the key. Put the .pub line on that machine. Test on home Wi-Fi before you travel. A firewall that only wants a password will still ask. That prompt is normal.
A one-off, if you are not saving it bash ~/rune-ssh-connect.sh asks for the host and the user, then connects. Use the Host block when you will call it again.
Leave the house Put the phone and a machine that can reach the box on a personal mesh. We walk through Tailscale on From the road. Same account. Turn it on when you leave home Wi-Fi. Put the mesh name in HostName, or run vw mesh sync after the mesh entry is yours. Then the same vw ssh shop. The box stays powered on. You do not open its admin port to the whole internet.
Prove the road Phone on cellular. Mesh on. Box on. vw ssh shop again. A shell on that machine means it worked. The in-app short name for a travel host is vw ssh ontheroad once that Tailscale address is in your mesh.
You are on that box now Type its own commands, on its prompt, one line at a time. A FortiGate understands get system status, then get system interface physical, then get system performance status. A PC understands the shell it already has: logs, git, a service, disk space. Do not paste a whole screen back into the prompt.
Move a file Phone to the box: vw put ./note.txt shop:Desktop/. Box to the phone: vw get shop:Desktop/note.txt .. Folders: vw sync push and vw sync pull. Help sits at vw files help. Same names as vw ssh.
One health check vw doctor looks at tools, the key, the mesh, and whether the path answers. If home Wi-Fi works and cellular does not, the mesh is off on the phone. If the command is “not found” at rune$, you typed the other machine’s command on the phone. Open it with vw ssh first.

Good to know

The other machine has to be on
You need a login you already have
Armor still works if you never open Rune
On a small firewall, a large slice of memory while idle is often the box’s own software. The session count is the traffic
In the app: Engine, How-to guides, Advanced

If it fails

Permission denied: user or key does not match
Timeout: wrong name, box asleep, or mesh off
Wi-Fi works, cellular does not: turn the mesh on
Another VPN fighting the mesh: pause it and test again
Pasting the whole screen locks the prompt. Type the next line

Optional, when the link is messy

vw mosh setup on the phone
The far machine needs mosh-server (Linux, Pi, or WSL)
A plain Windows desk stays on vw ssh
Help: vw mosh help

Why open it

A pocket full of reasons

Same steps. Different Tuesday. Pick the job.

Machines you already own Desk · Pi · NAS · lab · the script that already lives there

The printer is “down” again

The spooler died on the shop PC. You restart it from the couch. vw ssh shop, then the service command that PC already knows.

The Pi lives in a closet

No monitor. No keyboard. The phone is both. Lights, a camera, a little server. vw ssh pi.

A build is running

The lab PC is compiling. You read the log while the coffee finishes, then go back to whatever you were doing.

The disk filled up

You check space and clear the log that did it, before you drive across town to sit at the desk.

A process is stuck

Someone is waiting. You find it and stop it. The laptop can stay in the bag.

git, on the machine that has the repo

Pull, status, the script you already trust. The files never had to come to the phone.

Docker, a database, a cron job

They already live on that box. You run them there. Licenses and data stay put.

The heavy tool stays on the PC

A compiler. A model. An AI launcher. The phone is the console. The secrets stay on the machine you trust.

Two jobs at once

One session tails a log. Another does the fix. New is another chip (S1, S2), up to six. Close a chip and the oldest one is still there.

You had to take a call

Lock the screen. Come back. The session can still be there, with a notification. Shade Exit is the one that really quits.

Networking gear you administer Firewalls · routers · the port you thought was up

Shop, cabin, office

Three firewalls. Three names. vw ssh shop when you mean the shop. You stop guessing which address that was.

Is the WAN actually up?

Before you blame the laptop, ask the firewall which port is up. On a FortiGate that question is get system interface physical.

You are about to drive in

One command from the driveway. If the WAN is down, you call the ISP before you unlock the door.

A port you thought you patched

The picture in your head and the live ports disagree. The live list wins. Down means down.

Memory looks high, and you barely use it

On a small firewall with the security features on, a lot of that memory is the box itself: DNS, inspection, the admin service. Look at the session count. Near zero means it is idle, not a leak. Worry when it climbs toward full.

The new site comes online

Add it the same way as the PC. A Host block. vw hosts. vw ssh and the new name.

The name does not change on the road

Home Wi-Fi or the mesh. vw ssh shop either way. The address behind the name is the only thing that changes.

The router, the switch, the AP

If it takes your login, it can have a short name too. You get its CLI, which fits the phone, instead of a tiny admin page.

Who is on it right now

Status tells you the model, the hostname, and the mode. Performance tells you CPU, memory, and sessions. You learn that in three lines.

You keep the admin port at home

The mesh reaches a machine you trust. You do not publish the firewall’s SSH port on the router for the whole internet.

Files, the road, the phone, the armor put · get · doctor · Shield · Call Gate

The note is on the wrong device

vw put carries it to the PC. vw get brings a config back. You stop emailing the file to yourself.

A log you need to read later

Pull it down. The phone is the courier. The server keeps the original.

A folder of notes

vw sync push and vw sync pull. Same host name you already call with vw ssh.

Hotel Wi-Fi, then the parking lot

The mesh stays up when the cafe network changes. Optional mosh helps on a Linux box or a Pi when the link keeps dropping. Windows stays on SSH.

You forgot the names

vw hosts prints them. vw doctor says whether the path is up before you blame the firewall.

No remote at all

Packages, git, and vw run on the phone when the job is local. vw pkg list shows what is installed. The PC can stay asleep.

Coffee-shop Wi-Fi while you work

Armor on. Decoy traffic gives a noisy scan something else to chase. The shell session is still your machines.

One app should be quiet

Void Shield allows or blocks Wi-Fi and mobile data per app. From Rune: vw shield status. The same rules as the Shield tab.

Something tripped

ArchAngels watch the wire. The Demon log stays on the phone. You can read what fired without shipping the log to a cloud you do not run.

Dinner, and an unknown number

Call Gate. VIPs still ring. Quiet hours. Unblock when you meant someone else. The lists start folded.

The phone is just full

Seraphim’s Dust Sweep clears clutter you choose. Patrol is the clock for when armor runs. Home is the one tap that arms the stack.

You only wanted the armor

Skip every step above. Rune is there when you want the keyboard. The shield does not require a remote login.

The deeper pages, when you want one job in full: eight ways in, the day after you are connected, the mesh, the Rune guide, armor.

Get lifetime unlock From the road Rune guide

Eight pathsEvery way Rune talks to your gear. Once you are inThe work after the login. From the roadThe mesh, step by step. ArmorThe shield on the same install.